Carlos RV Cirne Lima (1931-2020) – II

Carlos Eduardo Uchôa (Reviews Journal)
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By ERNILDO STEIN*

Commentary on the work and life of the Gaucho philosopher

Evaluating Professor Cirne Lima's presence in the context of national philosophy means telling the story of the most important moments that went through a certain philosophical debate from the 1960s onwards, born in Rio Grande do Sul, and that would have, over the years, led to a profound dialogue between Brazilian philosophers, in their academic context, bringing important contributions from classical German philosophy.

Those who came from a very orthodox Thomism would find attempts at a transcendental reading, coming from centers of debate, above all, in Germany. Certainly, these debates led to a liberation from the excess of orthodoxy, when Cirne Lima brought to the south of Brazil a focus of irradiation that would later find itself in the studies of Henrique Lima Vaz. Soon, Cirne Lima's presence would be reinforced by the presence of other philosophers who had been discussing Hegel and the consequences of such philosophy for the reigning philosophical thought and theology. It is in this period that a debate on the relationship between Christianity and Marxism would also begin, which naturally led to the search for central questions that could be found in Hegel.

Realism and dialectic: the analogy as dialectic of realism, (Porto Alegre, Globo, 1967), his first interpretation of Hegelianism, already revealed a very original interpretation of fundamental elements of Hegel, placed in a new context. But this would only be the beginning of a long commitment to Hegelian discussions that the philosopher engaged in, especially with Brazilian colleagues, and which progressively ended up drawing attention to specialists in Hegel in Germany. Thus, a remarkable group of debates was formed, in which Cirne Lima not only revealed an up-to-date knowledge of Hegel's cutting-edge research, but was sought after as an interpreter whose creativity was increasingly visible. Along with Lima Vaz, Manfredo Oliveira, Marcelo Aquino and various experts on Hegel from abroad, Cirne Lima ended up leading the great deepening of the study of Hegel in Brazil.

When the Postgraduate courses in Brazil began, Professor Carlos Roberto Cirne Lima began an activity that spread through the training of new researchers and professors. Naturally, there is a whole atmosphere of the university environment that was sustained by Cirne Lima through his interpretations of Hegel and his advances in the development of an analysis of a personal nature that would lead him to develop his own thinking. Many Philosophy events had the presence of this professor, expanding more and more the study of Hegel and the new interpretation of Cirne Lima, who began his own thinking that would lead him to retrace the entire Platonic path, especially since Plotinus.

A initiative of CD Rom project dialectic for all [launched in May 2006] constituted something absolutely original in our environment and led to a dissemination at the time, unusual, not only of Hegel's ideas, but of Carlos Roberto Cirne Lima's own thought, also published in his book, already in several editions. edits, Dialectic for Beginners (Porto Alegre, EDIPUCRS, 1996). It is not easy to convey the idea of ​​the penetration of Hegel's debate among educated people and not just in the university world through this initiative.

with the book After Hegel (Caxias do Sul, Educs, 2006) Cirne Lima occupies a very particular place in the interpretation of Hegel. But the work cannot be considered just a reinterpretation of a philosopher of tradition. In it, Cirne Lima's true thought appears, showing an admirable capacity for encompassing the various current philosophical trends, through which he makes the Hegelian project pass, giving it an unexpected novelty. But that would be saying little, because, with this work, the professor opened his extremely sophisticated and broad philosophical vision to dialogue with the sciences, especially Biology and the evolutionary sciences.

Periodic meetings with philosophers of various tendencies from Brazil and abroad gave rise to a milestone of interdisciplinarity inspired by dialectical thinking in its broadest sense at Unisinos. After Hegel it also represents the effort of a thought that is seeking to articulate itself as a system, in the context of a profound newness. But, in order to lead Hegel to a dialogue as Cirne Lima intends, it was necessary to correct, in several aspects, fundamental questions in Hegel.

That's why he submitted to Logic from Hegel to a severe formalization, using the finest resources of contemporary logic. What excites, in reading this book, is the perception of a search for totality, which is also harmoniously articulated with the totality of scientific knowledge. It would almost be redundant to say that knowledge of analytical philosophy and its resources is conducted beyond it, in an expansion in which the result is the most original dialogue between analytical philosophy and dialectics.

The sciences develop a discursive thinking from which the totality is excluded by virtue of the very logic of the sciences. They certainly develop, in Putnam's language, a rationality 2, which is in no way possible without the presupposition of a rationality 1, by which totality is guaranteed.

First, it is important to say that phenomenology does not pursue a kind of fragmentary thinking. It simply delimits a field in which it explores the finite conditions within which philosophy can be done. Unlike postmodernity, hermeneutic phenomenology, especially in the contemporary hermeneutic turn, seeks unity, against dualism, and against an unacceptable relativism such as that of postmodernity. This is nothing more than the result of multiple events in contemporary culture, and, in philosophy, it can be understood as the result of a misunderstanding of Heidegger's thought.

It must, however, be recognized that the interpretations that reveal themselves in certain questions of Heidegger are not characterized as anti-systematic, but simply move at a level that precedes any claim to system, and, at this level, the discussion between Hegel and Heidegger, for example, it results in speculative productivity. This means that, in addition to the question of being in Heidegger, which is a phenomenological question, it is possible to pose a question of being that advances beyond phenomenology, and in it, undoubtedly, movements are carried out that have nothing to do with phenomenology. dimension of the comprehension of the being of phenomenology. In philosophy, it makes no sense to throw philosophers with their theories into opposing trenches. It is not for nothing that I usually say that Heidegger invites Western metaphysics towards an ecumenism, insofar as he refuses any orthodoxy in philosophical thought.

Personal and intellectual coexistence

I made contact with Cirne Lima first through your work Your personal Glaube [Personal faith] (Paris, Chédigny, 1959) that I had been translating for Professor Ernani Fiori as an aid to his thesis as a full professor, Metaphysical reflection and transcendental experience (Ernani Fiori unfortunately did not manage to present his thesis, whose defense was imminent, due to his exclusion from the university).

At that time, reading E. Coreth's Metaphysics revealed to me, through the notes referred to Cirne Lima, in the text, how important he had been in the dialogue with Coreth. When we were writing, in constant dialogue, the Habilitation theses for the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Cirne Lima wrote a first interpretation, profoundly Hegelian, entitled Realism and dialectic: the analogy as dialectic of realism.

During the dictatorship, I participated in the diaspora of philosophers, the fact of having to abandon university work represented an abrupt change for someone who made philosophy their central focus of activity. I was already abroad with my wife and daughters when I heard about the attitude of Cirne Lima and colleagues who were expelled for having shown solidarity with the first Philosophy class at UFRGS, expurgated in 1969. Only those who lived through the situation can assess the situation. generosity and the courage of such a gesture.

A The first impression I had, when I heard Cirne Lima speak about the dialectic between the master and the servant, in a very special moment, was that of a brilliant, extraordinarily lucid and daring mind. Living with a colleague always brings me the experience of a rare generosity. Even though at many times we moved in different positions, philosophically, Cirne Lima's finesse and courtesy aroused the desire to find clarity in the conversation for questions of Philosophy. The philosophical task can have its grandeur. More important than her, however, is the certainty of solidarity and loyalty in human society.

*Ernildo Stein is a retired professor of philosophy at URGS and PUC-RS. Author among other books by Six studies on “Being and Time” (Voices).

Article established from an interview given to Márcia Junges and Patricia Fachin at Online IHU Magazine.